


Five Stages

by moonewriting



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Dream Team SMP Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:53:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29790153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonewriting/pseuds/moonewriting
Summary: Spoilers!!!! March 1st Stream!!!!The aftermath.
Kudos: 43





	1. Denial

Tubbo looked down at the message board.

**TommyInnit was slain by Dream.**

He just kept rereading it. Over and over. But that wasn't true, it couldn't be. Tommy wouldn't go out like that. Would he?

“Tubbo?”

“He's not, must be a glitch,” Tubbo peered up at the ender hybrid.

“Tubbo-”

“No Ranboo,” Tubbo shook his head, refusing to glance back at it. “No. I mean that's just. Sam wouldn't let that happen. Sam, he-it's not true. We can ask him.”

Before either could continue the public chat went off.

_Tubbo please come to the prison. It is urgent._

“See, I'm sure we can just ask him. Sam can tell us. You’ll see,” Tubbo shrugged, but he practically ran to the massive building.

It loomed overhead. Blackstone blocking out the setting sun. At the front, Sam in netherite armor. Sword out as he glared at Jack Manifold.

“Sam!” Tubbo waved, a smile plastered across his face.

“Hello, Sam,” Ranboo greeted as he caught up.

“Boys,” Sam acknowledged with a curt nod.

“Come on Sammy, I have to know,” Jack Manifold ignored the pair in favor of being insistent.

“I’m sorry,” Sam didn't look at any of them. “I didn't-They're always fighting. I didn't think Dream would…”

“Yeah, yeah I know. But I'm asking if Tommy respawned,” Jack snapped.

“No.”

“What do you mean? Of course Tommy respawned,” Tubbo marched forward. “He's not just going to lose his last life in there. There's no way.”

“I mean, I kinda agree,” Ranboo tugged his shirt. “Like, Dream wouldn't kill Tommy. Not if he wasn't coming back.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Oh, well I guess the hotel really is mine now isn't it?” Jack mused.

“I already told you Manifold, I am taking you to court. That hotel is not yours,” Tubbo growled. “I am the only lawyer on this server and the judge of all official stuff. But if you'd prefer, I am more than willing to fight you for it.”

“And I'm telling you, it's mine and you can't take me to court over literally nothing. You don't even have a case,” Jack snapped. “It doesn't matter, I gotta go.”

“Jack!”

“Tubbo,” Ranboo’s gentle hand on his shoulder stopped him. “We have to talk with Sam, remember. That's why we’re here. We can deal with Jack later.”

“Right, yes , you're right,” Tubbo took a moment to recollect himself, turning back to face Sam and the prison. “So, you said it was urgent.”

“Yes. About Tommy’s things,” Sam said. “I can’t recover anything from the ender chest, meaning we can’t get the key.”

“Why would I want Tommy’s key. He can open his ender chest when he leaves the prison,” Tubbo rebuttal.

“Tubbo, I know this is hard. But, I, we need to think about a funeral-”

“There's no need for one,” Tubbo insisted. “Right Ranboo. This is just to get all the hype away from the prison. That's all.”

“I mean, that does make sense,” Ranboo agreed. “Actually, Sam can you tell us what happened?”

“I was bringing them more food,” Sam started. “I had to go, there’s still a lot I needed to do before I could, would have let Tommy out. I have to stick to protocol. I am the warden.”

“And?” Ranboo prompted.

“I left. I heard yelling and came back to check on them but Dream...I didn't think he would,” Sam sighed. “He beat Tommy to death.”

“Right,” Tubbo rolled his eyes. “Don't worry we won't say anything. Just tell us the truth. When can we see Tommy?”

“Tubbo.”

“We’ll stop by at a different time,” Ranboo interrupted. “I’m sure you're going to have a lot more visitors. Clear up all the confusion.”

“Ranboo.”

“Yeah, let's go Ranboo. We can always stop by later,” Tubbo hurriedly agreed. Ignoring Sam calling after them.

Neither allowed the news to really settle. Sure Tubbo joked about what stage of grief he was in but that's all it was. It's a joke, just a joke.


	2. Anger

Technoblade wasn’t angry. He wasn’t really. But chat on the other hand they were absolutely insane. Nothing seemed to be enough to calm them. There was no placating them until he got home either.

So he was kneeled over in the frigid snow, hands pressed against his temples barely breathing as he was consumed with blind hate.

_Dream!!!!_

_Killlllll himm!_

_MUST KILL DREAM!!!!!!!_

_Tommy?_

_BLOOOOOOD!!! BLOOOODDD FOR THE BLOOD GOOODDDDD!!!!_

They were so loud. God, the number of them was unbearable.

He knew he shouldn't have checked his communicator when he did. That unease and tension should have warded him off. Fuck his curiosity! He didn't want to deal with the conflicting voices in his head.

_Save Tommy._

_Kill._

_Traitor!_

_Fix it!_

_Good riddance._

_Finally._

_Bloood._

_BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!!_

A war of whether or not he should be happy. Whether Tommy deserved his fate. If he should kill Dream. He really should just kill him. The man was bound to ask for his favor, and when he did Techno would be forced to yield to it. Whatever the request he could only deny the debt for so long.

And here he is plotting to rid himself of it. Taking the time to gather a few supplies whilst out and about. It wasn’t fair. This wasn’t how he imagined Tommy’s death. But did he really even think the kid would die?

Honestly, if he wasn't gone by now, Techno thought he’d survive anything. Turns out he was wrong. **Fatally**.

Now he gets to deal with the guilt finally pushing through. He wasn’t the only one betrayed. When he looks back at it he can see that. He sees how Tommy was never dishonest with him. Always trying to spin his words to tell the truth but please the listener.

In that he reminded Techno of Wilbur. Twisting words in a way that you couldn't help but forget, yet held so much consequence. There was always more underneath, hidden meanings. At least Tommy didn’t hide the truth. The kid was candor in everything. His lies always easily sifted through. Never really hidden well. And yet, Techno had been surprised when Tommy sided with Tubbo, not L’Manberg, Tubbo.

For a God, Techno was short sighted. Though if you brought myths into it, then maybe he really was just as hypocritical as them.

Here in the snow, he couldn't sustain his lust for blood. That unending need for violence, chaos. Technoblade thrived in bloodshed. It was meditative for him. The screams, all the red.

But here, anything to the slaughter was few and far between. And those that may have met his sword were attached. He kept pets in the basement, locked up villagers for his whims. And there were his people.

Philza Minecraft. A father. His closest friend. A man Techno could never truly raise his blade against.

Even the young hybrid. His neighbor. Someone he was beginning to care for. He couldn't spill either’s blood.

Night would come, he reasoned. Mobs would spawn and he could also venture into the caves. Just keep going until he is satisfied.

So Techno waited. And waited.

By the following morning he was caked in blood. He could see the red stained snow littering the tundra. The caves echoed inhuman shrieks and screams. Yet there was little relief. Chat wasn’t satisfied. The Blood God only had one target. And if anyone dared to step on his path, the casualty should have seen it coming.


	3. Bargaining

Sam was the Warden. It’s his duty to follow protocol. There was a security breach, he needed to find the error and correct it. It’s his job to make sure no prisoner ever escapes. No matter what.

He was just following protocol. Tommy couldn’t leave, not until he was certain the prison was inescapable.

Now, he wished he’d found something, anything to have released Tommy. He scoured the prison for days and he never found anything. It wasn’t fair. This wasn’t justice.

Dream was still in there, going unpunished. Because in all honesty Sam never gave him any luxury, just the bare essentials to live. He took every last book Dream had. Burned them before the man locked behind a netherite barrier. He removed the placement for the clock on the wall, and got rid of the cauldron.

Sam wouldn’t let the barrier back down. Not after Dream burned himself in the lava for days after he’d murdered Tommy. The prisoner should not have been allowed to punish himself. He didn't deserve to scream in anguish and frustration only to respawn in a small puddle.

And for all that Sam stood for, he couldn't bring himself to kill him. When Tommy had come, when he came for closure he had told Sam he wanted Dream to live. The kid believed Dream deserved to live because then he’d have to face the reality of his actions. But it hurt.

_It hurt so much._

Here he was with three lives. Dream still only had one. Just the one. And Tommy, he had no more.

Tommy was gone. A _ **child**_ learning and growing passed his trauma, about to put an end to that part of his life, dead.

That's not what was supposed to happen. It's not fair. Where was the consequence to this undoable crime?

“Dream has a book of revival,” Sam suddenly recalled.

He rushed to the lockers forgetting he couldn't access it without the proper key. But when they’d brought Dream here, he had offered him an ender chest just like everyone else. What a fool he was.

“I have to get Dream to open that chest,” Sam growled. “If I can get him to open the chest I can bring Tommy back.”

But for a price.

Dream.

The masked man must have thought about this. He must have planned to kill Tommy. He must have known Sam had formed an attachment or that anyone potentially working here in the future would have been touched by Tommy.

The monster must have known he’d have the chance to see Tommy again. He must have known so many people would have gladly given anything to bring back the dead. To put a stop to the guilt, the regret, of seeing Tommy for someone he wasn't.

For not seeing the loud dramatic boy for the young child he was. Not seeing or not eliciting to acknowledge the trauma of war and abuse and abandonment said _child_ lived through. Alone.

They allowed the youngest on the server to suffer, to fight, and to die. And never once did he get anything in return. No thanks. No friendships, or lasting bonds. Instead they betrayed him. They left him alone in exile. Hunted him down for crime they didn't investigate. Blamed him for Dream’s spiral into descent. All of this placed on a broken child without any family.

Without the man who looked after him. Wilbur. Wilbur wasn’t always the man he was after the election. He was the only person on the entire server to take in a lone child. And he left Tommy too. There was something there with Techno, but Sam didn't dare to place it. Not after Doomsday. And Philza. No one knew how the man and Tommy were tied together. They could only guess, that Wilbur had introduced the pair.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn't right.

Sam would do anything to take it all. But he couldn’t free Dream. He’d guaranteed Tommy that much at least. He could honor that. Couldn't he?


	4. Grief

There wasn’t anything as freeing as flight.

Philza knew his wings would carry him across any distance. Soaring above the clouds, the wind whipping by as he glided closer to his destination. And then he heard a ping.

Rolling his eyes, he opened up the rackety device skimming through to see if there was anything relevant to him.

**TommyInnit was slain by Dream.**

“What?” Philza felt his heart stop.

His wings too, and he was falling.

Reading the words aloud and hearing it all pass him by. His wings snapped open, catching him just as he neared the tree tops. But he still crashed. Branches breaking his descent as he landed painfully on the solid earth.

“This can’t, but that's-” Philza cut himself off jumping back to his feet, gripping his sword tightly. “I’ll fucking kill that bastard!”

No one was around to hear his declaration. They didn't see him swing wildly at trees, taking down a few with a single swipe of his blade. Didn’t hear him plead, beg to have his sons back.

“I’ll be a better father!” he shouted into the sky. “I, I can do better. I’ll be there, I swear it. I’d be there, I’d be there if I could.”

The admission faded into the silence. The world was still spinning, even as Philza’s came to a halt. His sons, dead. What kind of father did that make him? Killing the first. Abandoning the second. Now, now he was gone.

Did he even have a right to grieve their deaths? It couldn’t be fair that he’d live so long, experienced so much only to finally build a family. He finally allowed himself to form a bond that he knew came with great cost.

With the kind of love he scarcely shared. His first son. He loved him, even as his sword effortlessly glided through him. The warm blood contrasts with the biting wind. But his heartbeat went unlike the growing screams. Unlike the terror on his youngest face as he fought against Philza’s closest friend.

Or how when he escaped house arrest his first concern wasn't his own child, his only living child, but Technoblade. The man was more than capable of dealing with his issues, though not the best with interpersonal matters. And when he spoke with Techno he’d assumed Tommy was safe, protected, cared for.

In a way he was. Technoblade guarded Tommy from Dream. He gave him a solid home, and spent almost all of his time with Tommy. More time than Philza had ever thought the child needed. Tommy was independent; he didn't need someone constantly hovering. Yet Wilbur was much the same, always close by never straying too far from his brother.

It was something Philza never noticed until now. Just how much he didn't know about what really happened to Tommy. He knew his son had been exiled, he’d fought in wars, but he never worried.

Now he’d live to regret it.


	5. Acceptance

When Dream had first hit Tommy he hadn’t planned on doing more. He just wanted to make the kid shut up and obey. Where did his obedient soldier go? And it’s not like he was going to kill Tommy.

But he recalled the cat. Such a nice strange creature. And what did Tommy do? The fucking kid killed the cat. It was frustrating sure, and Dream held back at the start. He really did. But he also had to punish the boy. He had to remind Tommy of his place.

Then the kid started yelling even more. Saying things and looking down on him. By god, Dream wouldn’t allow this little brat to taunt him. Not when he had all the power. He’s the one in control. He was the one who decided what happened next. Who lives. Who dies. This kid needed to shut up.

Just shut up already!

Maybe he could threaten him? Or beat him into shutting up. That could work?

It didn't. Tommy just kept going on and on and on, it was so fucking annoying. Dream couldn't take it anymore. He didn't listen to Tommy’s pleas to stop. He didn't care about the pathetic way Tommy went limp in his hands.. He didn't even blink when he slammed Tommy into the ground.

His blond hair caked with blood. Bruises black and green all over his body. To his horror though, Tommy didn't get back up. He didn't taunt or whimper or beg. Tommy stopped. Everything stopped.

Dream just wanted to make a point.

That's all he was trying to do.

Really. It was.

Tears pricked his eyes as he lifted the lifeless corpse. He dropped it not really prepared for the sudden shifting in his state of mind. The cat was still lifeless in the corner.

Well there was no use for it now. Picking up the dead creature he threw it into the lava. Content to listen to its corpse char and burn into nothing. At his lair Tommy. Battered and broken.

His tears didn't return as he held the boy in his arms. As he recalled everything he could from that book. Thankfully he’d taken the time to memorize its details long before anyone even knew of its existence.

Because he would finally be able to test his theories. He could practice the ritual on a fresh kill. Really this was perfect for him. All he had to do was wait for the results. Maybe he’d never get one but it wasn’t like he’d be leaving anytime soon so why not wait. It's better than sitting here with absolutely nothing to do.


End file.
